The rhythm of English is made by stress patterns. Syllables can be stressed (loud) or unstressed (soft/reduced), and they can be different lengths. The schwa is a short vowel sound which is the most common in the English language. When spoken, it sounds like `uh'.  


Listen to the following examples (the underlined syllable/letter is a schwa sound):

a, alive, the, today, supply 

 

In phonetics, it is written as an upside down `e': /ə/.

The schwa (/ə/) corresponds to the sound of most unstressed syllables, whatever the spelling. The schwa, the only phonetic symbol with a name, does not correspond to some specific letter. The schwa is always in an unstressed syllable.

As it is a reduced/unstressed sound, it emphasises a stressed sound even more (a stressed sound is indicated with the symbol ' before the stressed syllable), as they are usually next to each other.

Look at the following words (the underlined syllable/letter is a schwa sound) :

  • 'Freshman
  • 'Sophomore
  • 'Major
  • Pur'sue
  • Com'petitive
  • So'ciety
  • A,ccommo'dation
  • 'Scholarship

Unlike English, French words are not stressed; most syllables are pronounced. The mistake French people make is that they tend to overstress a stressed syllable while they should not stress reduced/unstressed syllables.


Modifié le: dimanche 1 septembre 2019, 12:33